Broadcast's best on sidelines in Emmy nominations

Broadcast's best on sidelines in Emmy nominations

DAVID BAUDER

Jul. 16, 2015

NEW YORK (AP) — A broadcast network is still the best place for a television event to get notice. That holds no sway with Emmy voters, though.

It's not new that the Emmys' attention span has wandered. Still, the snubs offered to broadcast leading lights "Empire," ''The Big Bang Theory" and "The Good Wife" in Thursday's nominations were notable.

The music industry drama "Empire" was one of TV's biggest hits upon its January debut, almost single-handedly keeping Fox afloat. That wasn't enough to earn a best drama nomination, and lead actor Terrence Howard was also overlooked. Taraji P. Henson's best actress nod prevented a shutout in the major awards.

Making it sting even more: Fox is the network showing the Emmys this year, on Sept. 20.

"The Good Wife" on CBS is widely considered broadcast's best drama, but no commercial broadcast drama was nominated. Star Julianna Margulies won't be waiting for her name to be called, either.

"The Big Bang Theory" is television's most-watched comedy, but the CBS show won't compete for best comedy. Star Jim Parsons isn't among the seven men competing for best actor. Mayim Bialik was nominated for a supporting award, though.

The CW's "Jane the Virgin" and its star Gina Rodriguez — who walked away with a Golden Globe earlier this year — were left out, too. Another prominent Latina, and television's best paid Latina, Sofia Vergara, also isn't nominated.

One Emmy evergreen, ABC's "Modern Family," was nominated again for best comedy, a category it has won five times. The only other broadcast comedy to be nominated, NBC's "Parks & Recreation," is already off the air. "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," the Tina Fey-backed series that NBC developed but sold to Netflix, earned a best comedy nod.

Broadcast seems to be held in such low esteem that it's worth posing the question: Would "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" have been nominated if NBC had kept it?

A show didn't need to be on broadcast to be snubbed, though. FX's highly-regarded "The Americans" won't be up for major awards, and Showtime's "The Affair" was overlooked, too.

Television's most popular drama among young people, AMC's "The Walking Dead," continues to live in an Emmy-free zone. The AMC series created for its obsessive fans, "Talking Dead," was nominated for outstanding interactive program, however.

Among the positive surprises was a best actress nod for Tatiana Maslany, who plays Sarah, Allison, Cosima, Helena, Rachel and Krystal on BBC America's "Orphan Black."

The timing also couldn't be better for Comedy Central to prove that there's more to the network than Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. "Inside Amy Schumer" earned seven nominations, including best variety sketch series and best comic actress for its star. "Key & Peele" had eight nominations, and will compete with Schumer for best variety sketch series. "Drunk History" was Comedy' Central's third nominee for variety sketch series.